This weekend was probably one of the best I’ve ever had. Saturday was ok, I went to a quilt and embroidery show, I had an aphaeresis appointment (that’s where you donate plasma and platelets instead of whole blood) but they made a mistake, so I ended up not being able to donate but instead got to sit there with ice on my elbow for 45 minutes. Then Saturday night PK took me to a lesbian bar, where I had a few drinks and had a great time dancing with his good friend RB, and had the experience of being the youngest person there, the only straight person (there were some gay men as well) and actually one of the cutest females there (which isn’t saying much for the rest of the crowd)
But Sunday was the best. I had tickets to see John Ondrasik at Cafe du Nord in San Francisco. I am a huge fan, and I adore his music. I bought two tickets, because Ida is a big fan too, but she ended up not being able to make it due to some family stuff, so I needed to find someone to take the extra ticket, which was a lot harder than I thought it would be. But finally, I ended up asking Michael Walsh, of iRREGULAR jOE fame. We’d never met in person, just traded emails and phone calls over the last couple of years, so it was a blast meeting him. He’s super fun, and made the concert that much more enjoyable.
We got to the club, and while standing in line we struck up a conversation with a couple of the people around us, and ended up sitting/standing with Nadine, the woman we had met in line. The club was a lot smaller than I had expected, which was exciting because it was that much more intimate a performance. The opening band was horrid. The lead singer reminded us of Phoebe from friends. A minute or so into the first song, Michael leaned over to me and whispered “Smelly Cat!!” and we both busted up. Nadine wanted to know why we were laughing, so we told her, and she totally agreed with us.
Another few minutes go by, and we have a conversation that goes like this:
Michael: “10 bucks if you request Smelly Cat.”
Me: “That would be funny, but no way. Maybe Nadine will do it”
Nadine: “Do what?”
Michael: “10 bucks if you request Smelly Cat.”
Nadine: “I don’t have the balls for that. You do it. I’ll give you $20.”
So they sing a couple more songs, and during a break between songs, Michael cups his hands to his mouth and yells “Smelly Cat!!” Thing is, where he was sitting, he was hidden by a post and couldn’t see the stage. A guy standing near me apparently gave him the evil eye for doing it, but he got a few laughs as well.
Finally (after what seemed like an eternity but was really only about 40 minutes, the opening band was done, and Nadine and I and this other woman whose name I never got were talking about Alice Everyday Rewards points, and then about how much we love John Ondrasik, and Michael just sat there smiling and semi laughing at us. He offered to steal the poster off the bathroom wall for me, which of course I had him do (so cool!) and finally John took the stage. The three of us (Nadine, Mystery Woman and I) swooned. Michael looked at John, then looked at us, and said to me “As long as it’s a musician it just doesn’t matter what they look like does it?”
The concert was great, I *love* his piano playing. People were singing along a lot (myself included) and it was just wonderful. There was a guy standing kind of in front of me, who was dancing to his own rhythm, and these tables up front full of women in black dresses with matching pink Gap scarves, who were all merrily drinking away, so Michael did a lot of people watching since he couldn’t really see the stage from where he was sitting. After the set, one of the Black Dress Chicks wanted him to sign her CD liner notes, and he said he’d be right back. And he came out and signed autographs.
The BDCs were fawning all over him, because he sat on the stage right by their table. I hadn’t even thought to bring my liner notes for him to sign, but thanks to Michael, I had a poster for him to sign! Whoo! And when it was my turn, there was still a BDC trying to hold his attention, and I gave her this evil “hello, I waited in line, step off” look. But he signed my poster “Hi Judy, All my love, John Ondrasik” and then gave me a hug. He also remembered the email I had sent him two years ago. I was on top of the world the rest of the night and all of Monday.